In order to adapt national law to European Directive 2004/18/EC on the modernization of procedures for the award of public contracts, the Ministry of the Economy presented a bill which proposes to introduce social and environmental standards. The bill comes after a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Communities (see our article No. 080268) which forbade to condition a public contract to the minimum wage defined by a local collective agreement, set off an important controversy. (Ref. 080295)
The bill on awarding public contracts in Germany, presented last week by the conservative Michael Glos, Federal Minister of the Economy, caused an outcry among German employers. Following the recommendations of the EU Directive 2004/18/EC, the bill plans a long list of social and environmental criteria to respect in the future for companies willing to get access to German public contracts, which represent about €400 billion a year.
Employers contest these criteria. The Minister also wants to get
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